UNCW men’s golf team finishes 11th at regional

RADFORD,VA (WWAY) — The UNC Wilmington men’s golf team won’t be advancing to the NCAA golf championship in early June. The Seahawks finished 11th out of 13 teams in the Virginia Tech NCAA regional. A top five finish would have placed UNCW into the NCAA championship, but the lack of depth on this year’s team hurt the Seahawks when one of UNCW’s top golfers was not able to play this week. Seahawk Thomas Bass was recently suspended for breaking a team rule. Bass was not allowed to play in the NCAA regional.

UNCW’s Josh Brock and Payne McLeod narrowly missed qualifying for the NCAA championship in the individual category. The lone individual available slot ended up going to Coastal Carolina golfer Sebastian Soderberg who fired a 67 on Saturday to finish tied for 2nd place at -4 for the tournament. Brock shot a 71 on Saturday to finish -1 for the tournament. He finished in a tie for 6th individually. Josh Brock is now finished with his collegiate golf career. Brock is a graduate of New Hanover High School in Wilmington. UNCW’s Payne McLeod finished even for three rounds of play.

Click here for the complete final results:
http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/leaderboards/player/static/player2608.html

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Below is an article from UNCW Sports Information on the regional golf tournament:

RADFORD, Virginia – UNCW’s first entry into the national finals will have to wait after Josh Brock and Payne McLeod were edged out individually and the Seahawks wound up 11th as the Virginia Tech NCAA Men’s Golf Regionals drew to a close Saturday on the rolling Pete Dye River Course.

The Seahawks, competing as the Colonial Athletic Association’s automatic qualifier, stood eighth after the opening round, but struggled on the final two days to finish with a 54-over-par score of 304-314-300=918.

“It didn’t turn out the way we wanted, but today was a fun day, especially for our seniors Josh Brock and Michael Taylor,” said third-year UNCW coach Matt Clark. “They all had great attitudes and hung in there the best they could. Just wish we would have had a little more this week.”

Duke avenged a 20-stroke loss in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship with an 865 score to earn a four-stroke victory over ACC champion Georgia Tech at 869. The Blue Devils and Yellow Jackets will be joined at the national finals by Oklahoma (875), LSU (880) and Mid-American Conference champion Kent State (893). Host Virginia Tech was nosed out for a spot in the nationals by three strokes.

Individually, Oklahoma’s Abraham Ancir took home medalist honors with a 6-under-par score of 70-71-69=210, but Coastal Carolina’s Sebastian Soderberg turned out to be the spoiler for the Seahawks. The sophomore from Ojersjo, Sweden, torched the Par 72, 7,685-yard layout with tournament-low 67 on Saturday to earn the individual spot awarded to the player not on the top five finishers.

Soderberg, who finished at 73-72-67=212, was one of three players tied for second place. Georgia Tech teammates Kyle Scott and James White also closed with 212 totals. Duke’s Julian Suri came in fifth with a 2-under 214 and UNCW’s Josh Brock (71-73-71=215) and LSU’s John Peterson tied for sixth place.

Seahawk freshman Payne McLeod, the CAA’s Rookie-of-the-Year, carded a 1-under 71-74-71=216 to tie Duke’s Tim Gornik for eighth place in his first NCAA Tournament appearance.

Playing with Lamar and Mississippi on the final day, the Seahawks sliced 14 strokes off Saturday’s total, but had too much ground to make up on the lengthy course nestled along the banks of the scenic New River.

The national championship runs May 31-June 5 at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla.